My marathon story

My name is Bill Brent. I live in Dover, Pennsylvania and I’m a runner.

By profession I would say that I am a Philanthropist… I believe people can affect great change in small ways. I believe we can do a little more with a lot less, and that everything we do is significant and should be done consciously. I also think that it is important to realize that everything we're conditioned to think we 'have to do' is actually a personal choice. My goal is to help others appreciate what they have, and what it's really worth. My respective professional titles, however; are Executive Promoter for the nation's leading health and fitness platform and Training and Operational Excellence Manager with the nation's largest pet specialty retailer.

I am often asked one of two questions. 1) When did you start running? 2) Why do you run so much?

I will address the latter first; I run a lot as compared to 90 percent of Americans; but not near as much as I should to reach the goals I am setting for myself.

To address the first question I will tell an anecdote my dad likes to share. One day when I was about 18-months-old, my dad was watching me and we were somewhere in the house. My dad let me play for a moment or so by myself then realized I had disappeared. He heard the screen door close and went toward it, only to find me running down the block in a diaper…

I realize that’s not the intent of the question, but I think it frames my philosophy on running…we are all able to do it and we have all been doing it a long time. I was a ‘runner’ in high school but since college, life--like it does for most people--got somewhat in the way.

I took one of those silly ‘#Challenges’ that people popularize on social media and wound up falling in love with the company and their mission. I’ve lost 50 pounds, helped my wife lose 60, connected several others to this challenge and since losing the weight have become reconnected with the enjoyable part of running.

Enough about my background I was asked about my first marathon experience; here goes:

Someone asked me what I liked best about the marathon and they had made a comment that going across the finish line must have felt amazing. While it did; I really think what made this experience rather impactful, meaningful and exciting were the people handing out the water and supplies throughout the race. There is something to be said about the energy which is transferred and the fact they are volunteering--they don't know you, they don’t care where you are from, but they are there supporting you. You don't necessarily get that from a 5K or a 10K and I think that's the part I like best about a run of this distance is that everybody is so different but feel connected.

That experience triggered this thought which I promote and try to demonstrate in my daily actions: The finish line is the finish line. It’s not going anywhere, it will be there when you get there. But it's what happens between the start and the finish that I think makes the run (and life) worth it.

In March I ran the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon in Washington DC with Project Hope. Why did I partner with and participate with project Hope? The canned answer is that Project HOPE delivers essential medicines and supplies, health expertise and medical training to respond to disaster, prevent disease, promote wellness and save lives around the globe. Who can not align with that? Digging deeper though; it is my way of being involved. I have made that my personal mission, to advance the common good and create opportunities for a better life for all. However, when I consider ways to make a difference in my community and ultimately the world, I feel my personal reach is too narrow. I am humbled by the depth and breadth of Project Hope and the communities they serve. This is the first time I had worked with them and was invited to join their team in January. Being a part of the Project Hope team had given me a very immediate goal because my training (using the phrase training loosely.) was amateur at best. I had been thinking about doing a marathon NEXT year (2016) but Molly with Project Hope called and I took the challenge.

I largely trained alone for this Marathon. Running for me has been something I do when I get home from work in the dark. I like to think I inspired a running group where I worked previously because I would ask people to join me in the gym or even run outside during lunch break. The Project Hope team trained in Washington DC on Saturdays and, as stated earlier, I live in Pennsylvania; ergo training was largely done on my own. Since participating in the RnR Marathon, I’ve connected with local crazies who don’t mind running long distances at a time and they’ve helped keep me on track, and I them.